My Favorite Trail Run + Frozen Lake Pics

My favorite trail run is at Moses Cone Manor. Unfortunately, it is a 45 minute drive, so I don't get to go as often as I would like. I visited the local ski slopes in February to go snow tubing. As soon as my friends and I arrived, it began to snow heavily, so we visited a few local areas and went home. Here is Bass Lake below Moses Cone Manor:
If you look very carefully, you can see a white house in the top middle of the picture. I run from the lake in the picture all the way to the white house and back (5 miles). This is not a trail you want to run if there is even one cloud in the sky, because storms can pop up all of a sudden when you're miles from your car. It's happened to me and it's scary as hell.
Above Image: Bass Lake in Fall

Those mountain trails up to the manor frigging kick my ass! Along the way, the scenery is just breath taking, and you pass a lot of pastures and centuries old structures. Then when you finally make it to Cone Manor, you can use their restroom, which used to be the carriage house when the Cones lived there. You can also tour the manor. The bottom floor sells high quality local arts and crafts. My ex-boyfriend is a potter, and every time I go in there, I take a look at his pottery, which is sold in the gallery there. In the summer, the manor offers a night time grave yard walk to the Cone cemetery.Above Image: Flat Top (aka Cone) Manor

Moses Cone was in the textile business early last century and any land you can see in and around the lake and manor used to belong to him (3500 acres). His family donated it to the state some time ago. There is also another lake, called Trout Lake that belonged to him. I cannot imagine looking outside my house and knowing that I own everything I see.

A lot of the trails around the property allow horse riding, so you sometimes have to be careful where you step, if you know what I mean.

I also took some frozen lake pictures at Price Lake, which is close by. The last 2 pictures are the view 0f Bass Lake from Cone Manor. Notice the snow in some of them. Click to enlarge.